In The Saint, the hero's Swiss bank account represents his future, his hope of one day being able to leave his life of crime, danger and false identities. He set the mark at 50 million dollars and checks his balance all the time.

In the movie Simon Templar checks his account statements online on a laptop computer from his safe house in Kensington (London). The interface is very basic and apparently only one password is required to access the system. Later in the movie the hero checks his balance from a Nokia Communicator cellphone using the same web interface. The Swiss account is depicted as a cool place where you can receive large sums of money, no questions asked, and check on your account from anywhere in the world without having to even talk to anybody.

The bank's name (“Swiss Canton Bank”) is relatively realistic as movies go, although a real bank would be called "Cantonal bank of X", with X the name the canton. In Switzerland cantons are very much like US states, each with its own constitution, laws, and cantonal bank. There can be no Swiss canton bank, only a bank from a specific canton.

The bank's logo (SC with a small cross) is also relatively realistic. Apart from the consideration about the name itself, it is unlikely that a Swiss cantonal bank would use the Swiss Federal flag (white cross on a red flag) on its logo. It would rather use the cantonal flag or another cantonal symbol such as a bear, a cow, a ram or an eagle.

The bank's online banking system is relatively realistic. Sure, no bank can be accessed with a short password typed on the screen ("Barabbas" in the movie). All systems use 3 password: a contract number, a personal number and a random number that changes each session. The contract number is usually not the account number. The random number can be generated from a scratch list, a pocket clock or a fancy calculator with a card reader in the back, depending on the bank.

The bank statement does not withstand close scrutiny, but in the movie you only see it for a second. The dates for each booking entry are missing the year (29/11 instead of 29/11/97) but they correctly use the European date format rather than the usual American one (11/29). Also, bank statements in Switzerlands use a relatively abstruse terminology of credit and debit instead of withdrawals and deposits. The mention Tax flag 247X on the top right is meaningless in the Swiss context. The amounts are indicated with every dollar and cent and use the international bank currency codes (USD rather than $M). It is difficult to understand why the bottom line has a dollars and cents whereas the booking entries do not. Also, usually the bank statement header gives the period for which the statement is valid.

The bank statement seen on the Nokia Communicator cellphone is relatively plausible although if one wanted to nitpick the last two lines do not add up. On April 2nd and April 4th, Templar received two one-million dollars payments, but the balance stays at $43,550,000.

But generally speaking, Simon Templar could definitely have used his Nokia Communicator cellphone and home computer to check his account balance the way we see in the movie.

The way the account is used in the movie is of course rather surprising to a Swiss banker. An international burglar collects million dollar payments into the account, no questions asked. That would not be possible in reality, as the bank would require some documentation about the transactions at the origin of the payments. Of course, Simon Templar, master of disguise, could have not only opened the account under a fake identity "John Rossi" but also given a whole legend to the bank. This could possibly include fake commercial transactions to hide the real nature of his business. The movie does not enter in the details of Templar's relationship with his bank, but for the plot to make sense we can only assume he has.

Of course all these small flaws do not detract from the pleasure of watching this very entertaining movie. By and large, the way the Swiss account is depicted in the movie is relatively realistic.